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E39 (1997 - 2003) The BMW 5-Series (E39 chassis) was introduced in the United States as a 1997 model year car and lasted until the 2004 when the E60 chassis was released. The United States saw several variations including the 525i, 528i, 530i and 540i. -- View the E39 Wiki

I'm sure this has been covered before, but I was wondering if anyone can clue me in on where to get replacement lenses for my e39.

They were completely yellow before, so I wet-sanded up to 2000 grit sandpaper and then polished them with Meguiar's plastic polish - so they look great now, however, the damn mechanic doing the inspection says there are still too cloudy. Nonsense!

There are some cheaper ones on there too? I mean if you think the ones you have now are in good condition, no reason to spend a lot of money, just get some cheap ones, pass the inspection then put yours back on.

Rivercity got it right; get the ebay lenses with a clear corner as a bonus or even look for some that are cheaper if you don't want to keep them. You could also try removing the lenses and sanding the insides, as well as the outsides again.

Ya, I saw those - for some reason I thought you could get *just* the clear plastic part. Saw a set of used ones on ebay for cheap too - but can't tell from the picture if they look any better than mine.

I do know of a legal loophole to get around this problem. In Maryland, a vehicle can go from parent to child and vice versa without getting inspected, but not from sibling to sibling. I was hoping to avoid the extra hassle though.

They were completely yellow before, so I wet-sanded up to 2000 grit sandpaper and then polished them with Meguiar's plastic polish - so they look great now, however, the damn mechanic doing the inspection says there are still too cloudy. Nonsense!

Therein lies your problem. You should use 3M rubbing compound between the 2000 grit sanding and the plastic polish. On the first DIY to which I linked, the guy was able to get away without using rubbing compound. For whatever reason, it worked. In your case it didn't. I had the exact same lights as you and got awesome results using 3M. It looks like you still have some 2000 grit scratches on there. Hit it with the rubbing compound first, then polish again. Trust me on this it'll look a lot better.

I did 400, 1000, 1500, 2000 grit (all wet sanding) and then straight to Maguire's Plastix without the compound in between. I did find an attachment for my drill with just a plain old "sponge type" buffer that I did put the Maguires on so I could get a little more action than just doing it by hand. I got the Maguire's and polishing wheel all at Pep Boys if you have one in your area.

I live in Florida and the sun damage to the lenses was very, very deep. I sanded like crazy at the 400 grit level, then just meticulously at the other levels, then I did the buffer very little in fact, but the buffing with Maguire's at the end is what made them almost crystal clear. My lenses were so sun damaged and Yellow that you couldn't even tell how many headlights were in each unit. Now I did take them off the car to be even more accessible and I wet sanded them in my kitchen sink, the wife really appreciated that part.

My headlights look almost brand new, if I can get mine there I know you can get yours there.